>> what do i do. >> yes. >> what have i learned? i learned that great historian jon meacham and great writer evan thomas agree with me, that we'd better move ike from average to good to near great to great. it's time to get behind this. one of the great presidents. can you take care of that in your society of pot-smoking historians? >> i can do that. we'll go to social media. >> i'll get you more of a moonshine drinker. say hi to your friends in tennessee. >> now for the episode of "the daily rundown." >> it's huge. it's going change your life. it's the heaven's gate of huge. heaven's gate. i'm going to hold you down on that one, scarborough. he's up with a new ad directly responding to the charge and even making unusual mention of the president. they're both in ohio today.

romney's falling behind there as well as in florida. if romney can't win ee thf of those states, it's not just check, folks. it's checkmate. it's a quickly changing landscape for control of the senate. the lift is getting a bit heavier for republicans while the most watched contest in the country, the brown/warren battle, gets even uglier in massachusetts. and ann romney hits the late night circuit, sitting down with jay leno giviing her take on th 47% punches. this is "the daily rundown." i'm chuck todd. let's get to our first reading on -- reads of the morning. president obama makes another trip to ohio. romney definitely needs to put ohio back in play. the president simile wants to put it away. today romney is out with a

straight-to-camera ad. the ad itself is a bit of an admission that the 478% comments have done serious damage and the attacks on his personal wealth are also sinking in. take a look at the ad. >> president obama and i both care about poor and middle-class fami families. the difference is my policies will make things better for them. we shouldn't measure compassion by how many people are on welfare. we should measure compassion by how many people are able to get off welfare and get a good-paying job. >> worth noting, that's his first candidate-to-camera ad. this morning the obama campaign have another ad out hitting on the 47% comment. this is what it looks like. >> when mitt romney dismissed 47% of americans for not pulling their weight, he attacked millions of hard-working people making $25,000, $35,000 a year $40,000 a year. romney paid just 14% last year

on over $13 million in income. >> this is the second ad earring in seven states. note, he launched his first attack in ohio and it's not an accident. for months the obama campaign has been hammering romney there on his personal wealth, and those hits appear to be working. a new poll working. the quinnipiac poll showing a ten-point gap. yesterday, showing romney down 8. ohio has been a problem for romney since the primaries when of all the midwestern states it with us the closest one where rick santorum nearly pulled off an upset. it's certainly the toughest in the badleground. the problem for romney is if he concedes ohio to obama, the president is simile one state away from a win. it's not a florida or virginia.

he's a wisconsin away, a nevada away. that's the real problem here. the romney campaign needs ohio back. like this line yesterday, they tried to hammer obama on taxes. take a listen. >> he's got one new idea. i admit this. he has one thing he did not do in his first four years he said he's going to do in the next four years which is to raise taxes. is there anybody who thinks raising taxes will help grow the economy? >> no. >> ryan's expression back there when he looks over at portman, kind of intriguing. it would be curious what a thought bubble would be going on over there. but it's a little bit of a change for romney. he had often been accusing the president of raising taxes or citing increases, i thinking about the health care law, et cetera. a romney adviser put out a memo yesterday explaining how capital gains are taxed. as they say, if you're explaining how capital gains are taxed, not just calling for different ways of lowering them,

if you're simile having to explain it, you're losing. romney has also tried to make china a boogeyman and he did it again in ohio yesterday. >> that when people cheat, that kills jobs. china has cheated. i will not allow that to continue. [ cheers and applause ] >> this is one issue where romney has tried to go on the offense with china since he got on the campaign and frafrmgly the obama campaign has been on the defensive about it which is why when obama is in ohio today he's going to make the amount about ohio. he filed trade complaints with the world trade organization. he'll also argue that romney profited from companies while he was at bain capital. he's saying it's a margin of error race. in other words, that'd code for romney's behind and that's why they're making comments like this one. >> the question was if we lose ohio, could we still win.

say if and buts were candy and nuts, every day would be christmas. >> make no mistakes. ohio, big problem for romney. speaking of the two candidates, while they're both in ohio today, yesterday obama and romney rivalled the muppets and tried to take manhattan. they jammed as much as they could during competing visits to the big apple, a whirlwind day of media appearances. it was hard to miss them either physically in new york or on the tv. >> i'm just supposed to be eye candy here for you guys. >> the two traded few actual barbs. instead they did more subtle contrasts on the serious issues like the middle east and education and even less serious topics like who could best suck up to the former president, bill clinton. their sharpest and most substantive change was on iran. united nations, the president appeared to draw a real line in the sand on iran's efforts to build a nuclear weapon.

>> so let me be clear. america wants to resolve this issue through diplomacy, and we believe this is still time and space to do so. but that time is not limited. make no mistake. a nuclear iran is not a challenge that can be contained. >> but the president's strong words weren't enough to satisfied romney. >> we can look at the record of the last four years. is iran closer to a nuclear weapon or not? we know the answer. it's closer to a nuclear weapon. >> but one thing obama and romney could agree on, just how much they love president bill clinton now. they tried to one-up each other, in fact, in praising the former president and his, of course, the annual global initiative conference. >> if there's one thing we've learned in this election season, by the way, it is that a few words from bill clinton can do a lot of good. all i've got to do now is to wait for a couple of days for the bounce to happen. >> president clinton, thank you for your very kind introduction.

although i have to admit. i really did like your speech a few weeks ago a little bit better. finally we're rolling out our new senate battleground map. republicans face a steeper climb to net those four streets they need to win control of the chamber in november. yesterday afternoon as the 5:00 cut-off approached, aiken kicked off a statewide bus tour and he vowed to stay in the race. >> over a period of the last number of weeks people have asked me, are you quitting or dropping out? there are a numb beer of people who want to replace you with somebody else. i don't believe that's my decision. the dae sigs was made by the voters of the state of missouri. >> you know, we joked that after weeks of staying on the sidelines that at 5:01 p.m. missouri time democrat clair

mchaskell would launch an ad. here it is. >> on march 18, 2011, todd akin said he didn't like social security. on september 3rd, todd akin said it was unconstitutional. on march 16, he said he wanted to abolish minimum wage. on april 21st he said he would eliminate student loans and on august 19 todd akin said only some rapes are legitimate. what will he say next? >> now that he's on the bat -- ball ballot, some are saying this. from governor romney to the county court hours, i'll be working for the republican ticket in missouri and that includes todd akin. just like all of our gop

candidates elected in the august primary, the missouri republican party stands behind congressman todd akin. when asked on the last word last night about romney, senator clair mchaskell more than failed to take the bait. >> this is someone's always operated on the fringe of his republican parties. we're going to have a lot of republicans helping us out in this race. >> of course, that's going to be the more damaging ad is not akin's words, it's all the words of republicans that denounced akin that will be running on ad after ad. let's taking a last. republicans, they need to pick up a net of four senate seats to get the majority assuming president gets re-election, three if mitt romney wins. here are their best chances in order, nebraska, montana,

wisconsin, missouri, ohio, virginia, florida. >> we've gotten from republicans definitely favored to pick up seats and probably taking control of the senate to a coin flip on senate control and, well, perhaps even a 25% chance that republicans fail to net even a single new seat. demg caratic spros expects have improved not just in missouri but in north dakota, massachusetts, and indiana. for the republicans there is good news on this list. maine, no longer a slam dunk, folks. montana looking better than it did. and there's connecticut. folks, that is a very real race, but i have to say i was shocked when we did our list and said, yes, linda mcmahon has a better shot right now than josh mandell in ohio or connie mack iv in florida. if they change hands, they would need three more pickups if obama would win re-election. that would mean sweeping wisconsin, virginia, and

connecticut next on our lit and holding nevada and indiana. as you can see, the battle to control the u.s. senate in november for republicans is quite steep. today the u.n. general assembly will hear from iranian president mahmoud ahmadinejad. it's his last time addressing the body before hitting his term limits. they're urging delegates to protest the speech and boycotts are outside. maria is live. every time we hear him rant, are we giving this guy attention. >> reporter: forgive me if i don't answer your question. we're having a few construction problems. ahmadinejad is expected to be 16 of 17 speakers. of course, as is often the case when he's here in new york, there will be large protests taking place outside the u.n. those are scheduled to take

place at 11:00 a.m. and we skpeerkted to hear from high-profile speakers like rudy giuliani and mayor bloomberg. he's essentially a lame-duck president, finishing up the second of his two-four-year terms. now, just to get a little bit of insight into what we might here, president ahmadinejad gave a wide-ranging interview yesterday. one of the key issues here, of course, is iran's nuclear ambitions, and he's described it as a non-issue, characterizing it as something that the u.s. was bringing up as part of their bullying. he did also touch upon the issue of syria and the civil war there because, of course, critics have accuseded iran of being come policen't. he also refused to directly respond to president obama's

comments here about iran saying he didn't want to influence the u.s. elections. chuck? >> all right. mara squall mara schiavocampo. thank you very much. he's accused the president of raising taxes in his first term. why did he suddenly change his line of attack yesterday on the campaign trail. still ahead, if romney does lose ohio, where does that leave him? we'll dig into the battleground map and show you the plausible but not probable path it would take for him to get to 270 without ohio. but first a look ahead at the schedules of the president and mitt romney. right now mitt romney is at his rally, the first one of the day, big one, big schedule for him. the president doing a bunch of stops as well in ohio. jack nicklaus, by the way, hanging with mitt romney today. you're watching the daily rundown only on msnbc. bob...

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as we just reported, both mitt romney and president obama are in the buckeye state. the president heading there. they'll have multiple dueling eventing today. nbc's ron allen is there. they've been hearing from john kasich, the gronch. ron, talk about what you're seeing on the ground, et cetera. >> reporter: we're getting the usa, usa. there are some protestering up here. i can't hear what they're say but there are protestersprotest. they dealering with these hecklers. i don't know what their issue was but they're being dealt with by security.

this is enthusiasm. this is what mitt romney needs. the convenient yesterday with paul ryan where they were together for the first time since the convention, for the second time since the convention was really flat. here we have a big crowd but some are comparing it to a primary sized crowd, not necessarily a general election sized crowd. president obama will be at the university campus where there will no doubt be thousands if not tens of thousands. the governor here gave -- as he was giving an introduction where he talked about how things are getting better in ohio. of course, they are. the unemployment rate is about 7.2% below the national average. so that's part of the headwind romney is fighting in this state. g but, again, this is the first of three events. it's all about the economy. yesterday he made an interesting pitch to the crowd saying, i need you to go out and tuque to

obama. vote for me this time. so they're really trying to target those voters. as i heard you say earlier, on the press plane and in the crowd, the romney spinners are pushing back on the polls. they insist they're within the margin of error but they offer no proof of that. he's hoping for big crowdser more enthusiasm and hoping to open the gap here because as you know, he definitely needs ohio. >> ron allen following the campaign for us. ron, thank you. let's look at the map itself when it comes to ohio. there are less than a thousand hours until election day. is that sinking in? both candidates hitting the campaign trail. if ohio is really leaning toward the president, what does that mean for mitt romney and his potential path to victory? let's go to the latest nbc news battleground map and show you where things stand.

last week we moved from toss-up to lean ohio. the president's lead, it went from 243 to 2770. what does this mean if you give him ohio? well, watch. so you give the president of ohio, he gets up to 261. he use now got four paths to victory. watch this number up here again. it isn't just about a florida or a virginia. at that point you've got colorado that could put him over the top. you could take colorado away if if you will. you could put wisconsin would put him over the top, virginia would put him over the top or florida. it's a huge issue if you take away ohio. so what does that mean? let's give ohio back to the -- back to the president here and let's walk through romney's path. if romney makes a comeback, the assumption is it may not be enough to get ohio back in his columbia. so suddenly he's sitting there

staring at 261 with the president. so let's sit in here and go, you figure if romney bounces back, florida would bounce their form a little bit. let's get the ipad working here. nevada, underperforming economy. you would assume then that maybe new hampshire could come through for him, sort of a little home state -- one of his home state loves and then banking on paul ryan. what does that leave? this is what i've been telling people for a while. if this race narrows and it's a 50/50 contest and it gets down to a 2004 competition, it will be virginia that will be the last state to move in his direction, if you will if things are moving or mitt romney, the last one to go into his column. it's a state that demographically, i think favors the president. higher african-american turnout.

a growing latino population. the northern virginia suburbs, more dominant than others. a lot of federal workers don't discount that but there are a lot of republican leadings in the state and they have always found themselves to be a little more turned off by more liberal views of the democratic party and things like that. i think if you look at everything, here if this race narrows, the romney makes a comeback after the debates, that's the path you would likely see and it would lead, thing, virginia as the ultimate lynchpin. all right, moving on, we've got the market rundown coming up. new protests in spain. a few shock waves through wall street. we'll get a check on how wall street will react today. an one week before the first debate, how is president obama getting prepared. ? campaign manager stephanie cutter will join us. but the question, who was the first president to appoint a jewish secretary of state. give me the answer @chucktodd.

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>> and he's been through a lot of those one-on-one debates. mitt has not -- when you think about it, he's not had a real debate in ten years because these republican debates tend to by like candidate forms. >> that was ohio senator ron portman perhaps doing a little expectation setting before the debate. portman is, of course, playing president obama in the mock debate prep sessions for mitt romney while senator john kerry plays the role of rom in ney in prp sessions. stephanie cutter is the campaign manager for the obama campaign shefrmt joins us from the campaign headquarters in chicago. good morning, stephanie. >> good morning, chuck. >> i know you've been talking

about how amazing a debater mitt romney is. i want to get your reaction to ron portman correctly noting mitt romney hasn't had a one-on-one debate since his rate for governor in 2002. >> well, you know, i think that he's just come through a pretty tough primary, and we saw, the press corps saw, the american people saw mitt romney is pretty good on his feet in debates. he used them very strategically, many times coming from behind to put himself in first place. he's a good debater. he's always been a good debater. he prepares, he studies, he knows what he wants oust them. and we're realistic about it. and we have a great confidence in the president but the reality is the president hasn't had a debate in four years, and, you know, he's studying up on mitt romney's record. we wish we had a little bit more time, but we expect to face a pretty, you know, tough challenger when we stand on the stage a week from tonight. and as you know, chuck, as these things go, challengers normally

win the first debate just by standing on the stage with the president they get a lift. we saw that with john kerry. >> right. >> i remember, you know, eight years ago kerry being eight points down in the first debate and we came out ahead. debates are very important in the closing days of an election and they're incredibly important for challengers. >> you're spending three days in henderson, nevada, i believe in a compound, resort, whatever you want to describe it as for debate preps. sounds like you're doing a lot of debate preps, frankly more than president bush did in 2004. >> we're doing what the norm is. we're going to a debate camp a couple of days before the first debate. you know, he is going to have to -- the president is going to have to balance his team to prep with his other duties, official duties as president. so it will be a busy time. the president will walk into that debate prepared. but we also expect to walk into

that debate facing a pretty tough challenger. >> i want to ask you about that new york trip again. september, tough re-election. had to worry about debate preps as you guys are doing now, and he met with a slew of foreign leaders and one-on-ones. they all come to the shores of the united states. this is a time where it's easy to meet with some of these folks. there was one comment from an adviser. he said if he meets with one leader, then he's going have to meet with ten and you're like, well, that's the job sometimes. you know, this doesn't seem like a very defensible position, not to have met with one world leader when it came to the united nations. >> well, i don't want to get into the president's schedule and certainly this is a question for my colleagues at the white house, but i do know when you're the president of the united states, you're always talking to world leaders. it's not just one. in just the last day there ee's

been a lot of talks with the world leaders. i think that will continue. we've discussed it. i think that these are questions for my colleagues at the white house and we're focused on what we're doing in ohio today. >> all right. speaking of ohio, mitt romney's got a new ad out. i want to play a little clip for and get your reaction to it. >> president obama and i both care about poor and middle klass families. the difference is my policies will make things better for them. we shouldn't measure compassion by how many people are on welfare. we should measure compassion by how many people are able to get off welfare and get a good-paying job. >> what do you think of the ad, stephanie? >> well, how much time do we have? i think a couple of things. clearly the romney campaign has taken a hit over the governor's 47% comments. >> you believe this is a response to the 47% remark? >> absolutely, absolutely. and i think that if you look at

what he says, a couple of things. he promise 1/2 mis 12 million j you and i know those are jobs that are already forecasted by the current ceos. >> so that's the president's promise too? >> that's what the forecast is. >> okay. i've not been able to get any kind of pledge. >> i've not been able to -- >> these what's forecasted by economists that will be created on the next four years on the path we're on. we can do better than that. mitt romney doesn't think he can do better than that. he thinks we should stay on what's currently forecasted. a couple of other things. he's promised to lift people from economy to middle class. his policies don't support that. how does repealing health reform do that. how does repealing the affordable health care act help people stay in the middle class? how does a tax cut help people

move into the middle class when they have to pay for it. >> stephanie, i'm going to have to stop you there. you guys have a -- >> i asked you how much time you had. >> fair enough. stephanie cutter, campaign manager for the obama campaign. thanks for coming out. >> thanks, chuck. protesters took to the streets over austerity measures. just minutes way -- actually now -- minutes past the opening bell. let's get to the market. becky quick, are you going to react? >> yesterday the market started seeing some of these pictures late in the day. things turned a little violent because of the austerity measures that are expected to come today. in fact, the bank of spain said the company is in a severe recession, near 25% in the nation, near 50% for the youth there. they're tired of these austerity

measures that keep coming down. things did turn violent overnight. we saw protests in greece turn a little violent overnight too. this was a general strike day in greece and as some of these pictures have been coming back in, it did impact what the markets were doing here. in europe you see steep red arrows. this morning it looks like we're going to be opening on a mixed note. this came on day after the markets had actually closed town. the markets had the worst day in a month. so it looks like we're once again focusing on europe in all of these pictures. >> all right. we'll be watching."the daily r, back in 30 seconds.

kem democrats continue to hammer him on those comments. here's vice president biden o on the campaign trail. >> the fact is people pay a lot of o taxes. social security taxes, state and local taxes. gas taxes. probl property taxes. when he said it's not my job to worry about these people -- well whose job is it? >> joining me now, republican senator and former governor of north dakota, he's a member of the appropriations committee and a romney committee. senator, welcome. >> good to be with you. >> i'm going to ask you. there's some stunning polling results i've seen.

cnbc, my colleagues show the economy's worse but the same people, folks pick president obama more likely to fix it than mitt romney. how did this disconnect happen? i think part of it is staying on point. >> you say staying on message. that implies he hasn't been. >> no, i believe this is what campaigns are all about. >> no. they're going to go for him. jobs is the big issue. >> a lot of people have been giving him advice saying the issue he should be grabbing is energy and that north dakota is the great example. 3% unemployment. those are numbers tlsh there's full employment. that's 5%. at 3% you're overflowing when it comes to jobs all because of

fracking and energy. is that a fair assessment? what's going on? >> chuck, i like this question. i've been on energy for a long time both as governor and now as senator. it's not just about energy. 's about the economy and getting the economy growing. it gueets us on top of the national debt and security. look what's going on in the middle east. you're going to see him out there talking more about energy. >> you think he should be doing it more, talking about it in places like ohio and other places that are also wants to get into the fracking game. >> it is part of what he talks about as he's out there on the stump. i think you're going don't to see more. and i think it's right on the money. >> let me ask you to play north dakota political pundit. here you have north dakota, the economy is doing great. isn't that making it's for a democrat like heidi to do well?

>> they were putting these things in place. >> do you think -- >> do get the energy going. >> do you think he deserves credit for where north dakota's economy is going? >> absolutely. he's got the track record. he's right on the issues. in the end that's going to make the difference. >> why is he struggling? why is this close? i'll tell people, hay, it has a history of splitting tickets. >> that's right. that's true. you're right about that. she's been on the bout three times -- won three times. good name i.d., well financed running the campaign. again, when it comes back to running the issues for your the country, that's where rickburg isn't. >> where are you optimitt tick?

>> we're talking about doing tax reform, entitlement reform, doing the big package that will get the private economy and private investment going. >> if the president wins, then what does that mean? do you think the conversation changes? >> that's the problem. that's the real problem. that's the uncertainty you see. the san francisco federal reserve put out a study, said, hey, the uncertainty right now is probably adding one or two points to the unemployment race. >> all right. senator john hoeven, senator of north dakota coming in. on the radio this morning a bipartisan blow-up over the controversy of the seahawks/packers game. yesterday president obama tweeted on both sides of the aisle and his opponent mitt romney said this about it on cnn. >> what would do you about those referees in the nfl? would you order them back to work? >> i'd sure like to see some experienced referees with nfl

experience come back out on the nfl playing fields. and, of course, the running mate and packer fan, paul ryan, he chimed in at town hall. >> did you guys watch that packer game last night? i mean, give me a break. it is time to get the real refs. and you know what? it reminds me of president obama and the economy. if you can't get it right, it's time to get out. >> so there you go. he turned it into the presidential campaign. wisconsin governor scott walker tweeted this. being pro-taxpayer doesn't make me anti-union. besides, private sector unions are often our partners in economic development. that's his reason for siding with the referees union. the nfl release add statement yesterday saying this, there is broad agreement that the quality and consistency of officiating can and should be improved.

how to accomplish that is a critical issue separating two sides in this negotiation. we are prepared to make reasonable economic compromises and will invest more money in officiating as long as it assures long-term improvement. whatever. they're on the trail. the ones that are stuck there, they're eating chicken noodle. don't forget, you can always follow the show on facebook. you're watching msnbc. i told her i wasn't feeling like myself... i had pain in my pelvic area... and bleeding that wasn't normal for me. she said i had to go to the doctor. turned out i had uterine cancer, a type of gynecologic cancer. i received treatment and we're confident i'll be fine. please listen to your body. if something doesn't feel right for two weeks or longer, see your doctor. get the inside knowledge about gynecologic cancers. knowing can make all the difference in the world.

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man 1: i want facts. straight talk. tell me your plan... and what it means for me. woman 2: i'm tired of the negative ads and political spin. that won't help me decide. man 2: i earned my medicare and social security. and i deserve some answers. anncr: where do the candidates stand on issues that... affect seniors today and in the future? find out with the aarp voters' guide at earnedasay.org in this the first discussion on the series of four joint appearances, the subject matter has been agreed will be restricted to internal or domestic american matters. >> internal matters. like that. the daily flash back. it was a day in 1960. that's right. that's how one of the most influential debates in american political history began. 70 million people tuned in to watch senator john kerry -- kennedy, excuse me and vice president richard nixon face off

in the first tell vafted presidentipre-- televised presidential debate. you know the story. the tanned john f. kennedy and then richard nixon. as we reported the buckeye state battle continues today. both mitt romney and president obama in that crucial battleground state. here's romney moments ago ins we terville, ohio, where he wrapped up an event with golfing legend jack nicklaus. >> after the debates and the campaigns and all the ads are over, the people in ohio are going to say loud and clear on november 6th, we can't do four more years. we must do better. good morning, all. >> good morning, chuck. >> let's start where where

things stand in ohio. we have a whole bunch of polls. saw new york times, quinnipiac polls. they show giant leads, eye-popping if you will. the president ten points up in ohio, nine points up in florida, 12 in pennsylvania. i don't know why they have pennsylvania. i think we've all moved it off the battleground. susan page, we can debate the leads but we can't debate who's leading. >> in ohio it seems clear that this is a state that's becoming really tough for mitt romney to win and i think they are looking at alternative paths to get to those 270 electoral votes including campaigning more seriously in wisconsin and colorado and trying to go back to virginia. they've invested in ohio. they were there today, they were there yesterday. but i think you're getting to the point where ohio is looking increasingly not on the year of the first states that you must win. >> you know, sarah, thing back to your campaign back in 2000

and i remember when gore pulled out of ohio i'd say about the first week, ten days of october. >> right. >> and it mentally was a blow to the campaign, even though it still proved he had other paths to 270. psychological psychological psychologically, having ohio teeter away from romney, that -- >> i don't think there's anybody who thinks the president doesn't have a ten-point lead and we have six weeks to go. >> if the president was leading by double digits in ohio, would he be going there today? >> it's a good question. and both of these campaigns understand ohio is important. i think what this current map looks like for romney, though, is that florida becomes even more important. and while it's a state like north carolina where he's been more prone to be ahead by a point or so, that's place where his investment of time is going to be absolutely critical. >> and the thing in florida, what's been amazing, ohio --

we've all been able to explain, ohio, different ways, we can talk presidentially, democratically, florida's been the surprise, i think, to me and a lot of other, danielle, that the president has pulled ahead in some form there. >> i agree. i really do thing it comes down to medicare. i think thattish has really hurt mitt romney and also the demographics in florida. they're growing especially in the i-4 corridor. >> you can get there. i went to the map. the camera-to-candidate ad, he should have -- >> he should have been doing it in the spring. >> how many times have i heard this? >> it's easy for us to

second-guess everything. >> that's completely true. i actually think it's a pretty good ad in that he's making an argument. he's being critical of the president but he doesn't seem shrill or angry. it's the kind of ad you do because you must do because you're in trouble. >> 47% leave a mark, sarah? >> i think it leaves a little bit of a mark, but i don't think it is faulting in any long-term way to him. i mean he has to get out there and articulate that he's going to do a better job of putting the country on an economic path to prosperity than the president. and the next two weeks, this first debate, i think, it's a critical period for him to set where the narrative and campaign is going. >> it's critical. i want to get into this after the break. down the bit it's critical. they're wanting romney to get going. stick around. trivia time. we asked who's the first president to appoint a jewish

secretary of state. the answer -- and when you listen to all his tapes, it probably makes you scratch your head. it's richard nixon. in 1973 he appointed henry kissinger secretary of state, the first jewish person to hold that post and serve as secretary of state andsimultaneously. if you've got a good trivia suggestion, i'm us. we'll atone for not using it if we don't. we'll be right back. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] at&t. the nation's largest 4g network. now covering 3000 more 4g cities and towns than verizon. at&t. rethink possible.

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this is a guy i know who cares. he cares 100%. you don't like him being misinterpreted. it's important what mitt can bring to this country. >> that was ann romney on the "tonight show" with jay leno last night depending her husband on the criticism of the now infamous video of the 47%.

let's bring back our panel. you were pointing out, sarah, democrats got a boost. and the republicans, some of them got hut. they seem to be counting on% coattails. >> i think that's right. as you see the presidential race tighten, which it has -- nationally has since the democratic convention, i think, you'll see these senate races, also tighten back up in places where republicans have been up where they're more comfortably and reliablreliable. >> ten point lead here, ten point lead there, in the florida poll it was a little bit bigger, i think, with nelson wrks a little wider lead, daniela, than the president there.

>> yeah. i mean i agree that -- everyone agrees that the race is going to get closer as we get toward the election. >> i don't think it's gotten much tighter. the 47% again, i think has hurt a little bit. i think it's hurt mitt romney a lot. these candidate races they're all different but i think overall the race will stay where it is. >> susan, that's what's amazing. candidates and campaigns do matter, whether it's the extreme case of missouri or what we're seeing in connecticut, what we're seeing in indiana. the tightening that is outside the red/blue boundaries. >> you know what strikes me? the democratic women. democratic women challengers in better shape than we thought. one of them, connecticut, the republican is better. >> it's a woman candidate. >> and the three best campaigns

on the republican side being run, i would argue, are heather wilson in new mexico, lingua lingo in hawaii and linda mcmahon. they're in blue states and they had to run good races. the republicans get them. >> and you have an all-women panel. >> i wasn't going to point that out. there it goes. shameless plug. >> they've been looking at the engendered imbalance of political coverage. 75% of the stories are written by men. an exception is "usa today." 82% of our political coverage, jacky kucinich and more. >> all right. daniella. >> all right. yesterday we released a path of 270. talking about democratics, the importance of the women's vote. i encourage everyone to look at our website. wishing all my jewish friends an easy fast on this

high holy day. >> that's it for this edition of "the daily rundown." we'll see you back here tomorrow. coming up, chris jansing. bye-bye. i'm meteorologist bill karins. airport delays are possible with the heavy rain. they continue from kansas city to st. louis. evansville, i., all the way through the louisville and cincinnati areas. late today we'll have a chance of showers arriving in areas like philadelphia, washington, d.c. it will be soggy out here in the middle of the country. we're sitting on a bunch of shale gas.

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good morning. i'm chris jansing. we're just a week away, if you can believe it, from the first presidential campaign. it's now looming even larger for mitt romney. because three new polls out today show pollsters pulling away from him. the new quinnipiac lead gives obama a ten-point lead in ohio, nine points in florida, whopping 12 points in pennsylvania. this is a new cnbc poll that shows president obama nine points u on romney when it comes to who would do a better job on the economy. good to see you. >> great to be here. >> we should say the polls were done at a time